If you literally type ls filedot into a terminal, the shell interprets "filedot" as a literal filename. If a file named exactly "filedot" does not exist, the terminal will return an error. The confusion often arises from users wanting to: Ask Ubuntu How to show only hidden files in Terminal? - Ask Ubuntu
If "filedot" meant you wanted to see file types along with your list, a helpful combo is:
In the end, “ls filedot” is a koan of the command line. It asks: What are you choosing not to see? And what would happen if you looked? The answer is not just a list of hidden files, but a reminder that every interface — whether a terminal, a desktop, or a mind — has its own default invisibilities. To be literate in any system is to know not only how to list the visible but also how to invoke the hidden. ls shows the world. ls -a shows the world that makes the world possible.
If you meant something else by "filedot," please clarify
